Two years ago, a red-tailed hawk landed on a low branch by the side of the clearing. The most amazing thing about this experience is that I was only an arm’s length away from the hawk’s resting place. I sat, breathless, my heart beating hard, as the hawk casually scanned the clearing, not even looking at me. I was amazed by its amber eyes and curved black talons; I watched the wind rustle the hawk’s brown feathers. Then, in flash, the hawk spread it wings and returned to its domain, the sky.
I sat still for a long time afterward, feeling ecstasy, as I watched the hawk dip and wheel in the sky. Ever since that moment, I have thought of that experience as one of the most important experiences of my life, and in my mind’s eye I will always be able to see that hawk, that great predator of the sky, close enough to touch the soft white feathers on the bird’s chest. Many years later I still look back at that memory, using it to calm me whenever I feel upset.
Even though this story begins with a teenage boy and a piece of woods he considered an empty place, this story ends in an even emptier place, the sky. In my memory, I can always see that hawk, circling above me, all by itself in the biggest empty place you will ever find. And although the forest will always be a special empty place to me, part of my spirit will forever soar with that hawk, my hawk, in the vast, empty, blue sky.
END OF FOOTSTEPS IN THE FOREST, WALKING IN THE SKY
BY: LuckyS7ven
Completion Date: September 4, 2007
I sat still for a long time afterward, feeling ecstasy, as I watched the hawk dip and wheel in the sky. Ever since that moment, I have thought of that experience as one of the most important experiences of my life, and in my mind’s eye I will always be able to see that hawk, that great predator of the sky, close enough to touch the soft white feathers on the bird’s chest. Many years later I still look back at that memory, using it to calm me whenever I feel upset.
Even though this story begins with a teenage boy and a piece of woods he considered an empty place, this story ends in an even emptier place, the sky. In my memory, I can always see that hawk, circling above me, all by itself in the biggest empty place you will ever find. And although the forest will always be a special empty place to me, part of my spirit will forever soar with that hawk, my hawk, in the vast, empty, blue sky.
END OF FOOTSTEPS IN THE FOREST, WALKING IN THE SKY
BY: LuckyS7ven
Completion Date: September 4, 2007